The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop I'm new here (intro) + a question...

Hello everyone,

I just found this message board about a day ago. It looks like you all love your Chevies!

About 4 days ago I purchased my first old Chevy truck. Its a '58 Apache 3/4 Ton monster with a 235 straight six. Since my purchase I have been searching tirelessly for info on this mean machine. You see, I am sort of a Blue Oval man.....Guess you can't say the "F" word on here! ha ha....(thats a little weird for me, but I will adapt!)
I own a '63 Fairlane that I have been working on and hot rodding up a little bit.

But anyhow....I got this Chevy to use as my shop truck. I am an airbrush artist by trade and this truck will sure come in handy when hauling my equiptment. The truck runs and I have driven it for about a half mile, but it needs quite a bit of work to become a reliable hauler.

Hopefully you all won't run me out of here when I say that I am planning on hot rodding it and NOT restoring it. Hey.....look at it this way....its rusty and a 3/4 ton. I'm saving it from the crusher at least!

My question about it is this. I want to lower it (FRONT END) (as well as change the bolt patterns). We'll just focus on lowering right now. I read the TECH section where it talked about removing leaves....I plan on doing that. But if I am to get this stock front end lower, I think I will either need to "Z" the frame a little, or get a dropped axle. QUESTION: Does anyone make a dropped straight axle for a '58 Apache? I would rather stay away from the IFS stuff as I like simplicity.....

Anyone got any suggestions?
Here are some pics of the truck....Follow this link: CLICK HERE FOR \'58 CHEVY PICS !

Good to be here and hope my intro was sufficient.
Thanks for any advice you may have.
VonTingler

Welcome to the Stovebolt!

I recognize you from another board where there is only one way to build a rod. I think you'll find here that as long as you're starting with a Chevy/GMC pickup built before 1973 (I think that's the year) you can do with your truck whatever you want.

Be careful as you read the tech articles and look at available kits. Most the hot rod stuff is oriented toward 1/2-ton trucks and may not work for your 3/4-ton. Your '58 is a Task Force truck, and I don't know a lot about those, since mine are all Advance Design trucks ('47 to '55 1st).

You mentioned changing the hub bolt pattern. Are you thinking you don't need the 3/4-ton GVW? I'd suggest putting disk brakes on the front, and replacing the rear axle with one that has modern brakes and a more pleasant gear ratio.

Can you tell us a little more how you what to use the truck? Weight of the load, distances you expect to travel, that sort of thing. It might help sort out the options.

Hey thanks for the warm welcome so far...

Things are some times a little rougher over at that other board. ha ha.

Plans for the truck: I fully plan on changing almost every part of this truck. And, I am not afraid of cutting and welding so frame mods are not going to be a problem.
I plan on lowering it for one thing. It will not see any heavy duty hauling. I would not be hauling any more with it than I haul with a 4 cly S-10 already. Looks are definitely going to be the BIG concern. At some point I will probably shorten the wheelbase. It has an 8' bed on it now. BUT, that might not happen right away. I also know shortening the wheelbase = shortening the bed....NOT a problem. I am not skeert of a little cutting and welding.

I plan on cleaning the body up and welding in the appropriate patch panels. Giving it a simple paint job and some neat-o shop lettering on the doors....

The suspension and such is where I definitely need some advice. I already have an 8" rear out of a moostang. I checked it and its the right width. I would have to move the spring perches on it and "c" notch the frame on the truck if I were to go that low....Then again I might weld the spring perches on the top of the axle housing and have a "redneck" rake. I don't know exactly what I am doing so far....Many, many, many possibilities are running through my head. Lightening the rear springs is one thing that will happen definitely.

I certainly plan on running smaller wheels than are in the pics....jeez...19" monsters there!

With the 8" I would have 5 on 4 1/2 bolt patterns.... which would create a problem for the matching the front though.....(I assume)
So there is that mess.

I read the REAR SWAP tech, so I am familiar with some other rears I could look for. Which I have not done yet. This weekend will see me in the yards looking for donor material.

I realize that all this stuff probably should be over in the rodding section of the board....ooops, first mess up. Hope you all can forgive me. :rolleyes:

I can tell you all one thing....so far I LOVE THIS TRUCK!


Von.

I forgot to add that I plan on driving this truck.....a lot.

It will be my daily driver when it hits the street. The Fairlane is now my daily. I put around 3,000 miles on it in the 5 months since it hit the streets last summer.

My philosophy is build it simple and build it to go. I don't mind buying new parts. The moolah spent on a radiator or wheel bearing now saves mucho dollars later in towing bills!

Later,
Von.

Good looking vehicles. I know you said you wanted to stick with the straight axle, but with as much as you will be driving it I'd go with an IFS and disc brakes on the front. And that gives you the option of drop spindles, too. Put those on my 69, I can now outcorner a lot of cars that I have driven.

Mordrop, or however they spell it, does still exist, and I believe there is another company that makes dropped axles. You might check into those.

Disk brakes are a real good idea, and you might want to look for a 1/2-ton axle to drop to make it easier to convert to disks.

The disk conversions I've seen would all put Chevy 5 x 4.75 hubs on the front, so you might want to look for a rear axle from a GM product that would have the same pattern.

I don't see the suspension changes you're talking about as radical. Z'ing the frame is a different story, but I don't know anything about that...

Oldsub,
Thanks for the info on Moredrop. I'll look it up and see what they got.

Where would I look for a disk conversion kit? The only ones I have seen so far are the six lug types.
I saw some in the Speedway catalog that were 5 lug, but I believe they are for light vehicles like model A's and T's using the Chevy spindles.

I think that a drop axle and a disk conversion kit are in my future.....

Hi Vontingler --- And welcome aboard!

Don't worry! No one will "run you off."

They haven't run me off, and I sometimes talk some real trash (See Miniskirts thread)
Bob

Thanks for the welcome Fleetside....

Now where is that miniskirt thread?....

Welcome to your best sources of info, and good times.

That thread about the short skirts, that was funny as heck, and completely genuine! When was the last time you ever saw a convo in the forumns talking about short skirts.... ummm... lets see....well.....never. I wish I was here when it was going on, heh.

- Shane
[email protected]

It's in the lounge, but it may be a couple page back by now. It's a great example of how most of the guys here are serious about trucks, but love to have a good time. BUT, watch out for the political stuff 'cause these guys are mean and they ain't reasonable at all :p

I got mine at ChevyDuty. Classic Performance has one too. There seem to be two basic kits, one that uses Camaro disks and one that uses mid-size GM disks.

You'll want to convert to a dual master cylinder at the same time.

If you check my web site I show pictures and such of my swap.

Mor drop # was 510-261-1888 and they did my 32 axle 5 years ago. ECI is were i bought my brake kit. I bought one from speedway , it was not of very good quality and i sent it back. What is zing the frame?

Monoleafs gave me a cheap drop in the front. Handles good too.

I second the idea on doing the IFS swap. You mention keeping things simple. I didn't find this to be extemely difficult - see my link at bottom of page - and it will definitely improve your ride quality (nice if it's your daily). You say you don't mind cutting and welding - the IFS install took us just a few hours (once we had it to that point). Hardest part was installing the springs. The rest is just measure, measure, measure, tack, measure, weld, grind, fill, prime and paint!

- Ryan

Thanks fellas for the info.

I actually found a few sites last night that offered disk brake kits. I was also eyeing those mono leafs as well. Those look good.

"Z"ing the frame is something I probably WON'T do in this situation. It would require all sorts of modifications under the hood.

In short "Z"ing is where the frame is cut and welded back in with a kick up section. Basically the frame looks almost like a Z from the side. The process allows the vehicle to be lowered how ever much is desired.

I can supply some pics if someone needs them.

I also thought of a big question. Does anyone out there know if the spindles for my 3/4 ton truck are different from a 1/2 ton truck? I am hoping all spindles were created equally.....

Von.

As far as the IFS stuff goes....
I will be in the yards tomorrow looking for donor material, so I will keep the IFS stuff in mind....

However, I really dig the simplicity of the straight axle. It looks simple, it is simple. Less stuff to go wrong....

as far as ride quality.....well.....I'm the type that likes it rough.

Seriously though. I am going to keep the IFS stuff in mind, but I will probably end up using the straight axle. I'll have more info after this weekend.

Von.

Von,
Measure your outside frame width for your front suspension, and look for IFS donors with the same frame width. Take a look at 1973-1987 GM trucks, I here that it justs bolts to the frame and is easy to install on older trucks. Some say that it is too wide for an Advance Design truck, but may work will on a Task Force truck, so check it out. I plan on trying this on my AD truck because I bought a 1976 Chevy truck for $40, so I really have nothing to lose if it is too wide for my truck. You may be able to find a truck like this for next to nothing and use the front suspension and rear differential and have the same bolt pattern.

Phil

Check out this article:

http://50chevy.freeservers.com/Bolt_on_Independent_2.html

Great article....THANKS! Lots of helpful info in that one.

The IFS from a 63-87 Chevy pickup can be bolted onto an Advance Design truck if you don't mind narrowing the crossmember, or creating some spacers. The track width is a little wide, but lots of guys have done it.

The problem putting this IFS on your Task Force truck is that while the outside dimension is wider, the frame is narrower. Makes it much more difficult to mount the crossmember.